Payment processing fees

When a customer pays an invoice online, a small processing fee is charged by the payment network. Understanding how these fees work helps you decide whether to absorb them or pass them along to customers.

Where fees come from

Online card payments involve two fee layers:

• Stripe's processing fee — charged by Stripe for handling the transaction. This is a percentage of the transaction amount plus a small flat fee per transaction. Current Stripe rates are available on Stripe's website; Inspector Studio does not mark up Stripe's fees.

• Card network fees — built into Stripe's rate. You do not pay these separately.

Inspector Studio itself does not charge a per-transaction fee on top of Stripe's standard rate.

How fees affect your payout

Stripe deducts its processing fee before depositing to your bank. For example, if a customer pays a $400 invoice and Stripe's fee is 2.9% + $0.30, Stripe deposits $388.90 to your account and retains $11.10 as its fee.

The invoice in Inspector Studio shows the full $400 as paid. The difference between what the customer paid and what you received is accounted for in your Stripe dashboard.

Passing fees to customers

Some inspection companies add a credit card processing fee to invoices so the customer covers the cost. To do this in Inspector Studio, add a Fee line item to the booking before generating the invoice.

Example: Add a fee called "Credit Card Processing Fee" with an amount of $12.00 (or whatever amount covers your expected fee). The customer sees this as a named line item on their invoice.

If a customer pays by check or cash instead, remove the fee from the booking before finalizing the invoice.

Viewing transaction fees in Stripe

To see the exact fee charged on any specific payment, log in to your Stripe dashboard and find the transaction. Each payment record shows the gross amount, the Stripe fee, and the net amount deposited. This is the authoritative record for your accounting.

Card types and fee differences

Some card types carry higher fees — certain corporate cards, international cards, and premium rewards cards have higher interchange rates that Stripe passes through. If you notice a transaction deposited less than expected, the Stripe dashboard will show the exact breakdown.

ACH / bank transfer

If Stripe is configured to accept ACH bank transfers, the processing fee for ACH payments is lower than card payments (typically capped at a flat maximum). ACH payments take longer to clear — typically 3–5 business days — but cost less to process for large invoices.